The Swinging Singles 1972 Plus 43 years. | Eastern North Carolina Now

Flash forward forty-three years from the single complex days, to the retirement community.

    A few of my past post were about the 1972 swinging singles complex and all the fun. This is an update forty-three years later.

    We still have a clubhouse, pool, and BYOB entertainment, but something just does not seem the same.

    Friday happy hour at the clubhouse does not seem much different than it did in 1972. We have free entertainment, set ups, a dance floor, and plenty of tables for snacks. But a closer look will reveal that out Friday "ALIVE AT FIVE" get together is just that. We gather to see who is still alive.

    Most of the conversations start with "Did you hear?" Followed by "WHAT"? The topic of conversation at this meeting is about the new medical hospital next door that opened up in April of this year. I had to give a report on the emergency room based on my recent visit. I spared them the details and just provided the basics. I went, I saw, I left.

    For this happy hour we had Manuel Covington who is a fixture here in North Georgia. He has performed in a wide variety of musical venues and along side of some professional talents like:

    Tony Bennett, Lou Rawls, Luther Vandross, The Las Vegas Review.

    As a lead vocalist for the Mainstreet Rhythm & Blues Band in Lynchburg, Virginia his song writing talents helped to win the band first place in the Pepsi Band Jam

    Here is his web Site for those interested

    If you make it through the video, several things will be apparent.

    1. No one is dancing
    2. Some of these people are lost
    3. It appears that I may be the only one who still appreciates the Blues that Manuel is pounding out.

    One thing that has not changed, there are a bunch of single women in the complex. They are really widows but they refer to themselves as JUILETS just to counter the ROMEO club. I have heard that there may be some late night activity going on in the neighborhood. That would mean between 6:00PM and 7:00PM.

    Another thing that has changed is that they usually bring their own wine. Several of them are confirmed women libbers as they have liberated several husbands' estates of sufficient funds to drive convertibles with "Party Girl" license plates.

    All these observations are hearsay, as my boss does not allow me to do any first hand investigations. Well, that is not entirely true, it just that she knows that Mother Nature has already taken care of any wandering eye.

    Click here to see the short video of Manuel and the crowd